China is tightening its grip on the internet by requiring internet users to register their real names for some internet services and disrupting the services of businesses that give people the tools to circumvent the "Great Firewall".

According to China's internet regulator, the Cyberspace Administration of China, the new registration rule will apply to people who use services such as blogs, instant messaging services and online discussion forums.

It is partially aimed at weeding out users with misleading online handles such as "Putin" and "People's Daily".

The onus will be on internet companies to enforce these new regulations which begin on March 1, meaning they will incur extra costs in order to comply with the order.

Chinese internet companies that run Weibo, the country's equivalent of Twitter which has 60 million active daily users, were ordered to implement real name registrations in 2012.

Jason Ng, who analyses online censorship at The University of Toronto's Citizen Lab, said that caused some online users to self-censor because of the added risk of getting into trouble.

The latest announcement follows a disruption of three providers of virtual private networks (VPN) that are popular in China.

Internet users who install VPNs on their mobile phones or computers can access content that cannot be seen or used in China such as Facebook, Google, and some foreign news websites.

What's blocked in China

Google

Gmail

Google docs

Blogger

Facebook

Youtube

Twitter

Vimeo

BBC Chinese

New York Times (English and Chinese)

Human Rights Watch

Amnesty International

Having a VPN also means users can read posts that have been erased from Weibo.

This is because VPNs create a path that enables people to jump over the virtual Chinese firewall.

China blocks access to VPNs periodically and internet connections become even slower in the lead-up to a political event.

"VPNs were highly prized because they were fairly robust when they did work," Mr Ng said.

Three popular VPN providers - Astrill, GoldenFrog and StrongVPN - were affected by the latest round of disruptions aimed at their software for mobile phone devices.

Some users remain frustrated two weeks after problems began.

"One of the things that makes it difficult for people trying to access content from within China is that things do seem to change," Karl Karuthia, chief executive of internet censorship circumvention provider Psiphon, said.

"There are times when censors will crack down on content and there are times when they will let content get through."

The intermittent blockage has caused Beijing residents like Yap Sook Yee to create a backup plan. She forwards all her emails from Gmail to a local Chinese account.

"The Chinese government has been really strict with the internet so even checking Gmail now requires a VPN," she said.

"So you never know - one day if the VPN doesn't work, I won't be able to access any of my emails."

China's moves to exercise control over the internet comes amidst an explosion of online users due to the proliferation of smart phones and tablets.

Latest figures from the China Internet Network Information Centre show a wired population of 557 million.

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